


do you think it'd be all right

by incogneat_oh



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Sharing a Bed, Some profanity, Sort Of, Tim's sad life is implicit, batfamily, but Jason is a good bro, weird families bonding weirdly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 17:45:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15296742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incogneat_oh/pseuds/incogneat_oh
Summary: Tim’s lying back against the headboard with his legs pulled up, his bony too-big feet atop the covers. He’s wearing a baggy knit sweater and jeans. He’s doing something on his phone, and he doesn’t look up when he says, “Hey.”Jason closes his eyes, rolling back onto his side. He says, “Did you sleep?”--





	do you think it'd be all right

Jason wakes up.

It had been… a night. He’d slept okay, had even had some dreams that were not nightmares.And now it’s morning, his bedroom is bright with daylight, and there is something about the shift of air that makes him say,

“Tim.” Just that.

There’s a huff of breath from the other side of the bed, the side closer to the window, and he half-rolls from his side onto his back, squinting over his shoulder.

Tim’s lying back against the headboard with his legs pulled up, his bony too-big feet atop the covers. He’s wearing a baggy knit sweater and jeans. He’s doing something on his phone, and he doesn’t look up when he says, “Hey.”

Jason closes his eyes, rolling back onto his side. He says, “Did you sleep?”

“It’s nearly nine,” Tim says, like that’s an answer. Jason’s not certain he really heard the question, but he’s not exactly sure the babybird would answer him anyway.

It’s been happening more and more lately, Jason thinks vaguely, drowsily, while Tim shifts behind him. He’s been showing up at all hours, at first only during the daytime. More recently, though, he’s been spending nights here. Occasionally, Jason wakes up in the early hours to take a piss or have a cigarette and finds the kid dozing on the other side of the mattress, or on two occasions, the sofa.

Jason doesn’t mind. As houseguests go, he’s not the worst. He’s reasonably tidy, doesn’t go through Jason’s shit, or hog the hot water. He sometimes brings food. He’s fairly entitled, but that pretty much goes with the territory when you’re inviting yourself into someone else’s apartment.

For instance.

Jason, sighing the soft, forlorn sigh of someone leaving the warmth of their bed, stands up, and; “You gonna make breakfast?” says Tim, eyes still glued to his phone. 

Jason stares, with his brow furrowed and his lips pressed together until Tim lifts his gaze from the screen. Jason glowers, and Tim says, “Mm?”, absently. 

“I am _going_ ,” Jason says, “To shower.”

Tim nods sagely. Returns to his phone. “Breakfast after though, right?”

Fuck it, Jason thinks, and sighs. “Yeah, breakfast after.”

“Nice,” Tim murmurs, and says nothing else while Jason, grabbing some clean clothes from the dresser, trudges off to the bathroom.

So while Jason doesn’t mind, exactly, that doesn’t mean it’s not weird. He tries not to think on it too hard. He figures the kid’s got his reasons.

 

And when he emerges from the bathroom some 15 minutes later, hair dripping down his neck and dampening the collar of his t-shirt, Tim’s still there. He’s crosslegged now, still on the bed, and is reading—

“You better not’ve moved my goddamn bookmark,” Jay grouses, but his heart’s not in it. There’s a fresh mug of coffee on the nightstand where the book had been, and that seems like a pretty good trade.

“I didn’t,” Tim murmurs, sipping from another (significantly larger) mug. “This is pretty good though, huh.”

“I know, that’s why I’m reading it,” says Jason, tossing his damp towel over the back of the chair. “And I thought you only went for shitty pulps and sci-fi?”

“I go for _awesome_ sci-fi,” says Tim. “And also, rude.”

“No such thing. It’s always stupid,” Jason says frankly. He sits down on the edge of the bed and starts on his coffee. “I can never suspend my disbelief enough, you know?”

And that’s enough to make Tim snort-laugh, indignant, putting Jason’s book aside to stare at him. He nudges Jason’s hip with his knee, says, “One of my best friends is an alien clone, and another is literally from the future. Never mind your, ah, personal history with resurrection. Where, exactly, is sci-fi losing you?”

Jason shrugs, hiding his reluctant smile behind his coffee mug. “I call ‘em like I see ‘em, nerd.”

“Uh- _huh_ ,” Tim says, eyes rolling. He eyes the book where it’s sitting atop the covers contemplatively, says, “Hey, so in the end does the sister—?”

“How’d you—? Oh my god, Baby B, tell me you are not _speed-reading_ classical literature. You fuckin’ heathen. That’s not — no, I’m not even _discussing_ this with you.”

“Fine,” Tim says, leaning back nonchalantly. He sips at his coffee, smiling beatifically; the picture of innocence. “I’ll just wiki it later.”

And — that’s, no. Jason can’t— “You’re messing with me,” Jason decides. “You _can’t_ be — yeah, you’re definitely messing with me. Okay. That’s. I’m going to get started on breakfast.”

Jason puts his mostly-empty coffee mug back on the nightstand, still shaking his head disbelievingly. Tim’s laughing behind him.

“Hey, do you want—” Jay starts, and is interrupted by the sound of Tim’s phone ringing. He turns. The screen is lit up; upside-down, Jason can read ‘DICK GRAYSON CALLING’, can see the contact picture of a much-younger Tim Drake, squished against Dick’s side and beaming.

Tim’s expressionless now, but his hand is white-knuckled on the bed. He’s staring down at the phone, eyes brightly reflecting the light from the screen.

He rejects the call. He flicks the phone on silent and puts it face-down on the covers. There’s no trace of the laughter from before in his face.

“…eggs?” Jason finishes his question awkwardly, unsure, like there wasn’t a 26-second pause in the middle. He doesn’t know what that was about, but he’s sure it’s not his goddamn business.

Tim picks idly for a moment at what will surely soon be a hole in his jeans. He peers up at Jason, says a little hesitantly, “Can I’ve a grilled cheese?”

“You got it, your highness,” Jason says, makes a show of rolling his eyes. 

Tim’s lips twist up in a half-smile and he says, “Thanks, Jace.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he says, headed for the kitchen. “You’re doing the washing up, though!”

He mumbles to himself while he starts on breakfast, “You’re such a soft goddamn touch, Jesus,” and then, cursing himself, calls out “You want bacon on the side, Babybird?”

“Yes please!” calls Tim, from his bedroom. “Hey, you got any orange juice?”

“This isn’t a fuckin’ bed and breakfast, Tim,” Jay calls out, but there’s laughter in his voice.

Tim’s head pokes around the doorframe of the bedroom, says “Did you even _check_? I think I brought some by last week." 

“Pretty sure I drank that,” Jay says, prodding at the sandwich in the pan. It needs another minute.

“Rude!” Tim says, coming to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him over the stove. He peers down at the bacon sizzling in the pan and reaches out—

Jason smacks his hand away with the spatula and says, “Transit of property, Baby B. You leave juice in my fridge, I’m gonna drink it.”

Tim makes a morose little sound, rubbing (a little dramatically, it has to be said) at the back of his hand where Jason had hit him. “Yeah, okay.” and he knocks shoulder against Jason’s. He sighs.

“Grab the plates, wouldja?” Jay tells him, nudging him back. Tim nods and ducks around him wordlessly, weirdly at home in Jason’s cramped little kitchen.

And it’s not til Jason turns back around that he realises Tim’s stolen some bacon. 

_Goddammit._

**END.**

**Author's Note:**

> This idea sort of came up as a deleted scene for a fic I never wrote, but I ended up changing it up a little to be less... specific. It's also the most I've written in a very, very long time. Comments are hugely appreciated.
> 
> I can be found on tumblr [here.](http://incogneat-oh.tumblr.com)


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